Functionalism, Conflict Theory and Symbolic Interactionism - Essay Example

Drug use and abuse have been investigated from various theoretical perspectives. Among the theories are conflict, functionalism and symbolic interactionism. This paper expounds on drug use and abuse from the perspectives of the above three theories.

 Conflict theory considers drug use as a response to political, social and power inequality. An ordinary society consists of members belonging to distinct classes, based on their economic, political and social status. In the modern highly competitive and capitalistic society, the struggle between people of different classes has resulted in the uneven distribution of economic resources.  Consequently, the gap between the rich and the poor continues to become wider resulting in massive inequalities. McKim, (1997, p52) argues that economic endowment is directly proportional to the political and social influence in society.

In this case, the rich are more influential and powerful compared to the poor individuals. The rich have greater influence in defining drug use and apprehension of drug offenders than the poor. Though both the rich and poor have the same rates of using drugs, the number of poor culprits is usually higher than the rich are because poor people lack the power to influence the criminal justice system and avoid arrest. Moreover, economic deprivation results in social isolation resulting in greater frustrations among the poor members of the society. This makes this segment to be more prone to police arrests than the privileged class. In addition, the poor get harsher penalties for similar drug offenses than the rich because of their diminished influence in society.

The perspective of functionalist theory holds that drug use is a consequence of individual reactions to social forces.  Sociologist Robert Merton argued that societies have established norms that define what pertains to a successful life (McKim, 1997, p87). However, some people are prevented from achieving the set goals or they fail to attain them for varied reasons.  Such people may resort to retreatism in order to cope with the failure to reach societal goals. In this case, ‘retreatism' is a response of a person who has lost hope in trying to attain societal goals because he or she believes that the ways to reach the goals are unfair (McKim, 1997, p93). In this respect, the functionalist theory holds that such persons resort to addictive drug habits because of hopelessness.

Symbolic interactionism holds that drug abuse occurs because of interaction with the wider community. People regarded as drug users are prone to becoming serial drug addicts because society has made them believe and internalize that they are actual drug users. In this case, the theory supposes that people learn motivations and drug use when they interact with other people in society. In this case, the problem of drug abuse could be addressed if society adapts to a drug-free lifestyle.